First Blood
by BloodstainedLegends
Summary: Pres-series, no pairings, much blood. Kurogane faces off an unusually good opponent...


I have no idea where this came from. It was for a school project for which we needed to write a battle scene. Yes, my teacher is insane... Oh well, at least I got a good note...

I do not own Tsubasa, nor do I want to. It belongs to CLAMP, and only to CLAMP.

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Kurogane's Ginryu slashed through the ranks of assassins standing before him. He cut mindlessly through cloth, flesh and bone, barely aware of what he was doing, always sure to leave no one alive.

With each stroke, the silver blade became darker and darker with enemy blood. In little time, all of his assailants were dead, their blood turning the tiles of the roof red.

"Heh," he laughed softly. "There really is no one left in Nihon who can challenge me." He turned back towards the castle, the corner of his mouth twitching up into a smirk. The only thing that alerted him to anything was the soft sound of gentle foot-falls. He whipped around, Ginryu at the ready.

One of the assassins had been hiding in the shadows, awaiting the moment that his back was turned to him. The assassin brought his sword into a down stroke in a flash of silver. Kurogane slashed upwards, Ginryu easily through the weak steel.

The top half of the assassin's blade slid into the roof's shingles, tip first. His opponent glared at Kurogane through his mask as Ginryu came towards him in a thrust. The sound of metal on metal rang through the night as the assassin revealed a hidden blade in time to block the ninja's thrust.

"You're coming at me with a _knife_?" he demanded, then, cocking an eyebrow, added "Any last words?"

The assassin pulled back, short sword at the ready, then came towards him, holding the sword in a reverse-grip. Kurogane swung Ginryu across the masked ninja's torso, but succeeded solely in tearing the black material of his assailant's shirt. The armour the assassin had been wearing, lacquered so black Kurogane could barely see the difference between it and the torn shirt, had saved the assassin from a fatally agonizing wound.

Landing perfectly on both feet, the assassin reached into a small pouch, pulled out a small, round object. Grabbing the string that came from the object in his teeth, he pulled.

All Kurogane saw was a small dot of brightness before the night turned pure white as a small explosion was heard.

"Kuso…" growled the blinded ninja as he rubbed at his eyes with his free left hand. "A flash bomb."

He could see very little through the stygian darkness that suddenly enveloped him, but the assassin's ki was still visible to his inner eye.

Now, he saw the pale flame that marked the assassin's ki coming at him from behind.

"Coward!" he snarled. "First flash bombs and now this!?"

Kurogane turned around and lept, pulling Ginryu into a downwards stroke. He felt his blade glide through mask, cloth, armour, flesh and bone as the effects of the flash bombs.

The slayer's body fell to the roof with a thump, sliding a bit due to the wet blood.

He landed on his feet, not giving in the slightest to the slippery, gently slopping roof. Just then, he was aware of a sharp, relentless pain in his right shoulder. He put his left hand to it, and felt cold, blood-soaked metal. The assassin had thrust a kunai knife into Kurogane's shoulder.

Kurogane whipped around to face the only one ever too wound him. What he saw made his eyes widen.

Beneath the black mask and night-coloured clothes was a young girl, no more than fifteen or sixteen years old. Her black hair was cropped close to her scalp; dark lashes framed her half-closed eyes above which elegantly carved eyebrows arched. Her thin cheeks were pale and death, and her pale rose lips were rapidly becoming blue.

He fell to his knees, Ginryu sliding from his grip. Then he started laughing. For the first time since he had entered Shirasaki Castle, someone had managed to wound him, and it had been a girl.

Kurogane stood up, grabbing his sword as he went, and he left the scene of slaughter. He left the corpses for the other ninja to clean up.

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Good? Bad? Never stood a chance? Please tell me what you think and review!


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